Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Cover artist
David Frankland

I have only just discovered this book (the first in a quartet) and I can see why it has been so highly acclaimed. What an imagination and so well written. Take the first sentence:

"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Engines